I have a question that perhaps Riccardo might be able to help with as I am trying to help a distant cousin (her GM and my GM were 3rd cousins) find her GF Cesare Formaini who was born in the Frazione Poia, 38070 Lomaso (TN) which is near Comano and Godenzo in the Province of Trento.

Cesare was born about 1865 and was the son of Giacomo Formaini and Angelina Michelini; he had a brother Luigi. Since Poia is such a small community, she is having difficulty finding his Atto di Nascita even though she has written to a number of government offices (Il Comune di Comano as well as La Provincia di Trento).

Riccardo, are you familiar with this area? Do you think she is writing to the correct offices to obtain his Atto di Nascita? Or was the community too small to keep these records even though they were mandated by law?? I believe this area was still part of Austria at this time and then became part of Italy after WWI.

I have talked with Mariangela Fedrignoni, she is nice and she will forward for you the request to the priest of Godenzo di Lomaso (the parish where there are kept the church records of Poia), so when she gets Cesare Formaini bapt certificate she will send it to your address.

Also you can go to FHL and request to rent Poia church records microfilm

THANK YOU RICCARDO --- here is an email that I received this morning from my cousin who was trying to find information on her Grandfather in Poia --- the contacts you provided me for her have already provided her with information she has been trying to find unsuccessfully for many year!!!

You have saved the day again.... Thank you for that address in Trento. I wrote letters to them and then wrote that e-mail to that lady that your friend gave you. Believe it or not, I found an e-mail this morning where she listed ten children for my great grandparents.... Wow! Just as I suspected - a lot of kids. My grandfather and his brother Louis are the two youngest children. That lady says that she will forward my request onto the church for marriage records for my great grandparents. I guess it's all in knowing who to ask as to whether you get results like this or not. Please thank your friend a million times for me and tell him that I have written everywhere I could think of for the last 5 to 10 years with no luck. I would have had Andrea call Trento as my last hope before hiring a professional. Thanks again Charlie - you are a Godsend...

I have talked with Mariangela Fedrignoni, she is nice and she will forward for you the request to the priest of Godenzo di Lomaso (the parish where there are kept the church records of Poia), so when she gets Cesare Formaini bapt certificate she will send it to your address.

Also you can go to FHL and request to rent Poia church records microfilm

Thanks again for your assistance ---- my cousin in AZ is absolutely delighted with the results that you obtained for her from the Comune di Lomaso in helping her obtain records for her Grandfather, Great Uncle, her Great Grandparents and her Great, Great Grandparents --- her email to me follows:

Dear Charlie,

I forgot to tell you that I received an envelope from the Province of Trento yesterday. [b]The contact that you gave me really came through. He gave me this Mariangela who sent me the names of my grandfather's siblings back in January. She told me then that she only had this kind of information and that she would send my request to the City of Lomaso for additional information. Since I had already written Lomaso some time ago, I didn't expect to hear from them, or her again.

What a surprise to find out that Lomaso sent Mariangela the records stamped "Gratis" and she in turn mailed them on to me. She sent my grandfather Caesar Formaini's birth certificate, his brother Luigi's birth certificate and their parents marriage license that had their parents names on it. What a wonderful lady.

By charliemis:...."I forgot to tell you that I received an envelope from the Province of Trento yesterday. [b]The contact that you gave me really came through. He gave me this Mariangela who sent me the names of my grandfather's siblings back in January. She told me then that she only had this kind of information and that she would send my request to the City of Lomaso for additional information. Since I had already written Lomaso some time ago, I didn't expect to hear from them, or her again.

What a surprise to find out that Lomaso sent Mariangela the records stamped "Gratis" and she in turn mailed them on to me. She sent my grandfather Caesar Formaini's birth certificate, his brother Luigi's birth certificate and their parents marriage license that had their parents names on it. What a wonderful lady."

charliemis - I'm so pleased that you received these documents, and that Riccardo was able to find someone there who was willing to help by doing a local search for you - and then even chasing up another office until the things you had wanted were found. That was really kind of him and them.

But - having said that - I wonder if you, or anyone else, would have EVER recieved such courtesy if it had not been for the intervention of a kind person like Riccardo.

Surely these offices could (should) do the searches regardless of whether it is as a 'favour'? I wonder how many others like you have finally had to give up their searches as, not getting any reply, they have become convinced that the documents they seek either DON'T exist OR that they have incorrect information. Such a shame if that does happen - and I'm convinced that it does. It seems to be too much trouble for some comunes...

The Autonomus Province of Trento gives these free service to any people in the world, who have Trentino ancestry.
Here government offices work pretty good, because they have Austrian mentality, every service to citizen must be at the top.
I moved to Trento 12 years ago and all the services for citizens are so particular and so good, you don't find anything like that in other provinces.
I hope it helps
bye Riccardo

By charliemis:...."I forgot to tell you that I received an envelope from the Province of Trento yesterday. [b]The contact that you gave me really came through. He gave me this Mariangela who sent me the names of my grandfather's siblings back in January. She told me then that she only had this kind of information and that she would send my request to the City of Lomaso for additional information. Since I had already written Lomaso some time ago, I didn't expect to hear from them, or her again.

What a surprise to find out that Lomaso sent Mariangela the records stamped "Gratis" and she in turn mailed them on to me. She sent my grandfather Caesar Formaini's birth certificate, his brother Luigi's birth certificate and their parents marriage license that had their parents names on it. What a wonderful lady."

charliemis - I'm so pleased that you received these documents, and that Riccardo was able to find someone there who was willing to help by doing a local search for you - and then even chasing up another office until the things you had wanted were found. That was really kind of him and them.

But - having said that - I wonder if you, or anyone else, would have EVER recieved such courtesy if it had not been for the intervention of a kind person like Riccardo.

Surely these offices could (should) do the searches regardless of whether it is as a 'favour'? I wonder how many others like you have finally had to give up their searches as, not getting any reply, they have become convinced that the documents they seek either DON'T exist OR that they have incorrect information. Such a shame if that does happen - and I'm convinced that it does. It seems to be too much trouble for some comunes...

Unfortunately, I think this was only done as a favor to Riccardo, as my cousin had written to the Comune before with no reply --- here is her email to me after receiving the docs:

The contact that you gave me really came through. He gave me this Mariangela who sent me the names of my grandfather's siblings back in January. She told me then that she only had this kind of information and that she would send my request to the City of Lomaso for additional information. Since I had already written Lomaso some time ago, I didn't expect to hear from them, or her again.

It also possible that since Riccardo's contact was at the Provincial level -- perhaps that motivated the folks at the Comune level to respond --- i think that this happens a lot, and local, personal influence helps a lot.

BTW, please call me Charlie -- when I signed up last August, i assumed that I needed to "differentiate" from all the other Charlies on the forum;-) I didn't know that I was the first one...

QUESTION for Charlie and/or Riccardo or anyone who might have the answer:

I believe I have been in touch with Charlie's cousin in Arizona. We have the same ancestors, Giovanni Battista Formaini and Costanza Bottesi. However, I had only been able to go as far back in time as about 1803 in the Poia/Godenzo microfilms. I believe this was FHL microfilm 1448049. She had a family tree going back to about 1632. My question is: on which microfilm number could I find the baptisms from Poia/Godenzo from BEFORE 1803? It is not obvious to me by looking at the FamilySearch.org microfilms and a map of nearby towns. I realize that microfilms aren't being shipped out any longer, but I'm hoping I could access this data when those microfilms are put online. I have been looking at the online records for my ancestors who are from Arco and Riva.

I am related to Margie in AZ thru her GM, who married my Great Uncle (my Maternal GF's Brother) after her First "Formaini" Grandfather passed away. Her GM was related to my Maternal Grandmother.....they were from Calabria.

Not sure if Riccardo is still active, but he is a Professional Italian Genealogist and he was kind enough to help Margie out.[u]

FYI....most Civile Records were initially recorded beginning in 1809 as per an edict from Napoleon in all his captured territories....recording of civil acts: Births, Deaths and Marriages. Prior to that it is necessary to access Church Records with are highly guarded and often impossible to obtain. Some larger cities may also have older archives that they kept prior to Napoleon, but he helped to standardize the info being recorded too.

Riccardo had local contacts who obtained the records from Poia.

I was able to gain access to Church Archives by paying a local Italian Genealogist for my Paternal records; the priest wouldn't give me the time of day and was very nasty to deal with.

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